Single-Use Sensor Product Family Enters High Volume Production

January 11th, 2010 – Finesse Solutions, LLC, a manufacturer of measurement and control solutions for life sciences process applications, announced the production release of its single-use sensor product family: TruFluor sensors for dissolved oxygen or pH and process temperature, and TruTorr headspace pressure sensors. The product family is optimized for accuracy, lifetime, and ease of use. It is available on the Thermo Scientific HyClone BioProcess Containers for the Thermo Scientific HyClone Single-Use Bioreactor. Finesse single-use sensors are seamlessly integrated into the Finesse turnkey bioreactor system, either in single or redundant process configurations, having process volumes from 25L to 2000L. The sensors have also been qualified for use in cGMP applications.

The TruFluor sensors consist of a disposable sheath, an optical reader, a cable, and a transmitter. Their patented optical design is based on real time phase fluorimetry and uses a large area detector enabled by free space optics in order to eliminate photo degradation and drift. The TruFluor products also provide a co-located temperature sensor which is accurate enough to be used as a process variable. The TruTorr system consists of a disposable pressure sensor, a cable, and a transmitter.

Finesse sensors automatically compensate for temperature, and are pre-calibrated. Specifically, the calibration and lot data are encoded on a gamma-radiation-resistant memory chip that is integrated inside the sensor and follows it through production and sterilization. This chip is automatically read by the Finesse system once the disposable element is connected. All sensor wetted materials are animal-derived component free and USP class VI compliant; each sensor’s certificate of compliance can be downloaded from the Finesse web site.

All Finesse single-use sensors are pre-inserted in a disposable bioreactor bag port and gamma sterilized with the bag. As the sensor is pre-inserted during the bag manufacturing process, the sterile barrier is never broken; since the sensor and port form a unique, high surface area seal, media backflush and leakage, that are common with reusable sensor interfaces, are completely eliminated.

According to Finesse Solutions CTO Dr. Mark Selker, “Every aspect of our single-use product family has been engineered to allow the bio-process professional to focus on their process instead of problems. The fast ramp into high volume production of our products is the result of rapid adoption of our technology by the market leaders in bio-processing, but also general market recognition that our sensors provide a unique, complete solution for single-use upstream applications.”

About Finesse Solutions, LLC California-based Finesse Solutions, LLC, leads the way in developing new measurement and control technologies, in order to enable the transition to single-use systems, bring new capabilities to existing bioreactor platforms, and harmonize global bio-process information transfer. Our current product family provides comprehensive measurement and control solutions for upstream processes in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.